Latest Lessons

This particular combination works incredibly well for heavy rock or a more progressive style of soloing. I tend to use this sort of lick to transition between the scales. Because I predominantly use the pentatonic, I find the diminished seven arpeggio is the perfect ingredient to add some ferociousness into the tonality.

So you’ve spent time learning some arpeggio shapes. Now what? Arpeggios are a great musical tool that allow you to make melodic statements using harmonic (chordal) information. When playing over chord changes, using arpeggios is the quickest way to navigate your way around them.

This lick is a real showcase of how you can create legato runs using the pentatonic. Predominantly, legato patterns within the pentatonic consist of two-note-per-string pulls and hammers. I like to adopt a combination of this with a wide intervalic approach to add an extra note to the patterns.

There are 11 strings on the oud: five courses, or sets, of doubled strings and a single low string, usually a C. It is still widely popular in many places in the world. Learning basic techniques from this instrument can add a cool sound to your playing and maybe help to inspire new and fresh ideas.

Some of my favorite musical sounds are those that consist of long, flowing arpeggios, whether they are present in rock, classical, electronic music or metal. The manner by which most guitar players execute lengthy arpeggiated lines is by using sweep picking, wherein the pick is dragged in a single motion across two or more adjacent strings using either a downstroke or an upstroke.

We can always memorize new chords. That’s not hard. But what if we learned the structure and the music theory behind those chords first? What if we put the time into gaining a complete, academic understanding of what we’re playing? People shy away from music theory because it’s hard. And I’m not going to tell you otherwise.

In honor of the expansive new box set from Rounder Records, Skydog: The Duane Allman Retrospective, we focused on his single-note soloing on classic Allman Brothers’ cuts like “Stormy Monday” and “Whipping Post.” This month’s column is dedicated to Duane’s mastery of the art of slide guitar.

As the Black Label Society's leader (and Ozzy's guitarist for more years than anyone else), Zakk Wylde has become infamous for his brew-tal riffage and lethal lead style. Remarkably, though, he also has a soul-stirring softer side.

This month, I’d like to delve deeper into concepts for expanding scalar ideas across the fretboard. As in the previous columns, I’ll demonstrate how to move diagonally across the fretboard to connect scale positions, an approach that I employ to a great extent to play melodic phrases and solos.

These videos and audio files are bonus content related to the April 2015 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now or at the Guitar World Online Store.